University of Pardubice

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

1960´s in Britain and The Beatles

Kateřina Milatová

Bachelor Thesis

2020

Prohlašuji:

Tuto práci jsem vypracovala samostatně. Veškeré literární prameny a informace, které jsem v práci využila, jsou uvedeny v seznamu použité literatury.

Byla jsem seznámena s tím, že se na moji práci vztahují práva a povinnosti vyplývající ze zákona č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů, zejména se skutečností, že Univerzita Pardubice má právo na uzavření licenční smlouvy o užití této práce jako školního díla podle § 60 odst. 1 autorského zákona, a s tím, že pokud dojde k užití této práce mnou nebo bude poskytnuta licence o užití jinému subjektu, je Univerzita Pardubice oprávněna ode mne požadovat přiměřený příspěvek na úhradu nákladů, které na vytvoření díla vynaložila, a to podle okolností až do jejich skutečné výše.

Beru na vědomí, že v souladu s § 47b zákona č. 111/1998 Sb., o vysokých školách a o změně a doplnění dalších zákonů (zákon o vysokých školách), ve znění pozdějších předpisů, a směrnicí Univerzity Pardubice č. 7/2019 Pravidla pro odevzdávání, zveřejňování a formální úpravu závěrečných prací, ve znění pozdějších dodatků, bude práce zveřejněna prostřednictvím Digitální knihovny Univerzity Pardubice.

V Pardubicích dne 19. 4. 2020

Kateřina Milatová

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to Mgr. Olga Roebuck, Ph.D., M.Litt. for her help and guidance while I was writing the thesis. Many thanks go to my friends and my wonderful family for their permanent love, support and patience.

TITLE

1960´s in Britain and the Beatles

ANOTATION

The aim of the thesis is to clarify extensive social changes, which were happening in the sixties in Britain. The thesis will focus on working-class and youth. These changes were reflected in song production of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who. So that the analysis would be successful, it was necessary to point out the most important changes in the theoretical part, which contributed to inspiration of the lyrics and subsequently to analyse the differences between the bands.

KEYWORDS working class, changes, the Beatles, the sixties, songs, the youth

NÁZEV PRÁCE

60. léta v Británii a Beatles

ANOTACE

Cílem bakalářské práce je objasnit rozsáhlé společenské změny, které probíhaly v šedesátých letech v Británii, se zaměřením na dělnickou třídu a mladistvé. Tyto změny se odrazily v tvorbě písní hudebních skupin Beatles, Rolling Stones a Who. Aby byla analýza písní úspěšná, je nezbytné v teoretické části vyzdvihnout nejdůležitější sociální změny, jež přispěly k inspiraci v tvorbě textů a následně analyzovat rozdíly mezi jednotlivými skupinami.

KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA dělnická třída, změny, Beatles, 60. léta, písně, mládež

Table of contents: Introduction ...... 8 1 Britain in 60´s ...... 10 2 The Beatles ...... 16 3 The working-class ...... 22 4 Lyrics ...... 27 Conclusion ...... 40 5 Resumé ...... 42 6 Bibliography ...... 45 7 Appendices ...... 47

Tables Table 1 Words used by Lennon and McCartney ...... 38

Introduction

The sixties are not vainly considered as a revolutionary decade as the sixties can be characterized by a huge number of social changes, new inventions and developments, which were present in Britain those days. Not only were made new things but also a social position and rights of women and of working-class people started to change for better. Consequently, a life of millions of people improved. These extensive changes are interpreted and depicted in some of the Beatles´ songs and at the same time in other famous rock bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Who, which came from Britain as well. The Beatles became a cultural phenomenon and in a way commodification for most people despite coming from working- class.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and prove the occurrence of the social changes in the lyrics of the Beatles´ songs and other popular bands, which have been already mentioned, from the 1960´s. Several songs are analysed, which are related to particular events, changes and personal issues of every member of the chosen bands. The differences between the bands in terms of way of writing are analysed as well.

In order to find out an inspiration of songs, it is necessary to provide information concerning the biggest changes of the sixties in Britain. This part describes inventions, developments, rights and emancipation of women, which means that women could prevent themselves from being pregnant by taking contraceptive pill and at the same time abortion was no more illegal. Also, the position of working-class people improved and especially youth contributed to many cultural and social revolutions such as consumerism and sex together with drugs were no more considered as taboo in the sixties. Also, the acceptance of minorities was greatly important because homosexuals were doomed and regarded as strange and dangerous people until the 1960´s. Not only did social position change but also working conditions were improved. The working hours were shortened, and wages were rising. Therefore, people had more leisure time for other activities such as travelling or spending time with their family. As the society got used to having better standard living conditions, materialism and consumerism were at its peak. People wanted to enjoy their life as much as possible. It resulted in buying the latest products like televisions, washing machines and other electronics, which became much more affordable than in the past. Also, popularity of taking drugs such as LSD and cannabis started to be common among people. Despite having everything, there was a war called Vietnam

8 was that influenced people worldwide despite Britain did not participate in it, it resulted in protesting against wars and politics.

The second chapter deals with the beginnings of the Beatles as a band but also skiffle music is mentioned as it relates to black musicians who played a significant role for the Beatles as the Beatles were inspired by their music. Furthermore, a social and family background of every member is described in detail because it can help to understand the meaning of their songs and style of writing. It is also essential to point out who contributed to the fame of the Beatles, the most important men who deserve to be mentioned are Brian Epstein and George Martin. The Beatles went through some rebellions, which are revealed as well in this chapter. Such as John Lennon´s statement that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus or an extraordinary interest in India and its religion.

The third chapter focuses on the working-class people and differences among social classes from the point of view of place where they live, what job they have and all kinds of entertainments, which are various among the whole population in Britain. Although distinctions between social classes were still present, the society started to be more open in some cases and the society was considered as “classless”, which is explained in this chapter in more details.

The main purpose of this thesis is to find out, whether all vast changes were an inspiration of the lyrics of songs written by famous bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who through the analysis of the chosen songs. It is necessary to prove whether the main topics such as drugs, love, wars or rebellion against society and politics played a role or influenced the lyrics and if so, in what way. Also, the differences among the bands and their lyrics are analysed as well. Although, they have many things in common, there are still distinctions among them.

9

1 Britain in 60´s

The period of the sixties was significant in many aspects such as in cultural background of society, technology, science and medicine developments and a lot of new inventions, which had not existed before. Moreover, attitudes to sexuality, family, standards of living changed as well. This period became a milestone of the 20th century for most people living in Britain. It can be called as a “revolutionary decade”.

Some of the developments in science, medicine and technology were created paradoxically thanks to wars. The sixties were revolutionary years but before Britain became successful, developed and independent, many events had preceded. One of them was the Second World War. Generally, it is believed that wars have negative effects on society, people´s behaviour and wars inflict physical and psychological harm on adults and children, however, in some way the wars may be beneficial. According to Marwick, the Second World War can be called as “the physicists war”. For instance, following inventions appeared during the Second World War: radio isotopes, radars for air transport, infra-red tools, which were used for detecting enemies during the war but later appeared in medicine in the scanning techniques. Penicillin existed already in the pre-war time however, the pills have started to be used during wartime for the first time.1

Not only was penicillin invented but at the beginning of the sixties, another epoch- making kind of pill started being available – contraceptive pill. It became publicly available however, it was not widely used back then. According to statistics from 1970, only 19 per cent of married couples (women) took contraceptive pills until they turned age of 45. The number of couples using condoms was 29 per cent and 39 per cent did not use any kind of contraception.2 As Marwick stated, The National Health Service Act came into force in 1967 and it helped lots of women because they did not have to pay for the contraceptives and for contraceptive advice.3 Therefore, there was a decline in unintended pregnancies. Furthermore, what Marwick reported was that the first experiments of contraceptive methods come from 1920´s and 1930´s. An intrauterine device must have been dismissed owing to bad side-effects.4 Due to the spread of contraceptive pill later in the sixties, women´s lives rapidly changed and improved in many aspects.

1 Arthur Marwick, British society since 1945 (London: Penguin Books Ltd. 2003), 5-6. 2 Marwick, British society since 1945, 88. 3 Arthur Marwick, The sixties (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 265. 4 Marwick, British society since 1945, 87. 10

The next important act associated with emancipation of women was the right to terminate pregnancy. As Marwick stated, an abortion act was mutually supported by the Conservatives, the Liberals and the Government in 1967. Clearly, the abortion had been permissible in the past under a law from Victorian era, but only wealthy people could afford it because they could pay for a surgery in private clinics. In the sixties, the abortion fees were reduced, and the process became more affordable, however, since the interest in pregnancy termination was high, women had to sign on a long waiting list and patiently wait their turn.5 According to Marwick, the surgery was done by 2 doctors on the National Health Service.6 If a woman from working class wanted to end her pregnancy, the usual way of terminating pregnancies according to Hopkins were either knitting needles or having really hot bath and high intake of gin or even more brutal “back-street” abortion which was illegal, moreover, it was done by unskilled people.7 Living as a woman, especially from the working class until 1960´s must have been greatly tough and many women who underwent illegal abortions must have ended with serious consequences. In the following paragraph, there will be explained that the women were not the only ones who had had difficult times.

Generally, minorities and other specific groups were not usually tolerated and easily accepted by most people, one of these specific groups were homosexuals. The year of 1967 was important not only for women but also for men – gays. As stated by Marwick, the Sexual Offences Act ended, and “gays” became tolerated by the society. In the past, they were bullied and blackmailed but thanks to the new act, they took to the streets without being afraid of assault.8 Before confirmation of the act, Sullivan stated that people believed that homosexuals were abnormal and dangerous to society in the USA. Moreover, they could not find a job due to their sexual orientation.9 If the attitudes to homosexuality were compared in the USA and in the UK, it could be proven that they were almost the same. Men with a different sexual orientation had to face many difficulties in everyday life. As already mentioned, due to the widespread discrimination on the grounds of their sexuality, it was problematic for homosexuals to find an employment, which naturally put them in a poor financial situation that was a source of many other problems encountered by other indigent and outcasts. Fortunately,

5 Marwick, British society since 1945, 118-119. 6 Marwick, The sixties, 265. 7 Eric Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes 1918-1990: A social history (Avon: The Bath Press, 1991), 168. 8 Marwick, British society since 1945, 119. 9 Sullivan, Gerard, "Discrimination and Self-concept of Homosexuals Before the Gay Liberation Movement: A Biographical Analysis Examining Social Context and Identity." Biography 13, no. 3 (1990): 203-21. www.jstor.org/stable/23539517. 11 in the sixties the situation of homosexuals improved – since they started being more accepted by the society, the unemployment rate of gay people declined. All these changes and attitudes among people were the positive signs and evidence, that people were more openminded and not as xenophobic as in the past. Also, other groups of people were accepted, for example people who belonged to the working class. One of the following chapters will deal with this topic in details.

Developments, social problems and innovations have been mentioned so far, but the next a most significant change in the society characteristic of the life in the sixties in the UK was the consumerism. People desired to buy abundance of goods, which were impossible to procure before. There are many factors, which contributed to these developments. Surely, one of them was the lowest unemployment in Britain, due to which even working-class people’s income was high enough to buy more than was necessary. After the war, Britain was successful and prospered in industrial production. Therefore, people had new opportunities to find a job and the number of unemployed people declined. The data show that in 1951, wages were rising but inflation as well. The general earning per week was 8,30£, in 1968 23£ and in 1971 it was three times higher, i.e. 30,93£. Prices of food and of other products were rising as well. From 1955 to 1969 the difference between prices reached 63 per cent.10 Hopkins claims that unemployment was falling and in the 1960, only two per cent of people did not have a job. In addition, working conditions appeared to be better and more acceptable. The workplaces in factories became safer and the working hours shorter. According to statistics, the regular number of hours per week was 44.6, in 1950´s, in 1960´s it was reduced to 40 hours.11 People acquired better living conditions, worked shorter hours and earned higher salaries. As was mentioned by Marwick, even working class was able to buy meat instead of just fish. Therefore, businessmen could turn their chain into small supermarkets where vegetables, groceries and of course fish were on offer. Although most of the products were quite expensive, there were some goods such as small cars, electronics and technology that had the same price or even a lower price than they used to have earlier.12 It resulted in mania and people could not help not to buy all the new inventions. A different lifestyle of people contributed to a wide spread of cultural products such as music, radio, televisions, art or literature. They were consumed by majority of the society, especially by young people.

10 Marwick, British society since 1945, 88. 11 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 127. 12 Marwick, British society since 1945, 87-89. 12

Consequently, people could purchase electronics and other goods, which became attractive to the society of the sixties. The new inventions were mainly washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashing machines, spin-driers and bigger television sets. Data show, a refrigerator was owned by just 8 per cent of households in 1956, but in 1962 it was 33 per cent, and in 1971 more than half of the population had a refrigerator, the number of the owners was 69 per cent. The next surveyed product was a television. It was found out that 75 per cent of homes had the television in 1961 and in 1971 it increased 91 per cent. Also, a car´s expansion has started in the fifties but rapidly increased in early sixties. In 1965, the number of car and van owners was 9,131,000.13 Inhabitants of Britain were enjoying their lives and the standards of living were rising in many ways.

As people got used to fact that many products were available and more easily affordable, they wanted to enjoy themselves even more. Taking drugs allowed people to forget all the woes of the work and wars. As pointed out by Marwick, drugs were easily accessible on the National Health Service and in other places. There are 4 categories of the drugs. The first group is concerning amphetamines, pills and capsules, which influence the central nervous system, the second group is heroin and needles drugs, the third group is cannabis, which became a typical drug taken by youth and older people who were identified with a young generation and culture. The last group is the newest one: LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) psychedelic drugs.14 Not only ordinary people but also members of music bands including Beatles were taking all kinds of drugs in the sixties.

The UK was not the only country in which LSD became so favourite. In America the drug gained the same liking and contributed to shaping of hippie movement in 1967. Marwick explains typical features of hippies, that between the most significant ingredients of this movement were LSD and “nature”. Flowers expressed a beauty of nature; it was an opposite of plastic. People and artists were smoking marijuana and making music. The typical bands associated with the drugs and hippies were The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Beach Boys.15 Not only were drugs taken to kill the time or to have a good time but also to forget all woes, struggles and fear caused by wars. Vietnam war was present at that time. People were fighting against spreading political communist party but also for human rights. As it was mentioned in the article, Vietnam war started in 1955 and ended up in 1975. America decided to join the war

13 Marwick, British society since 1945, 91- 92. 14 Marwick, British society since 1945, 114. 15 Marwick, The sixties, 482-483. 13 owing to fear from spreading communist regime into smaller nations and they wanted to help to stop this coming disaster. The Department of Defence stated that 51 per cent of soldiers smoked marijuana, 28 per cent consumed heroin and cocaine but LSD and mushrooms were popular as well.16 Vietnam war influenced many nations but also music became significant those days as many artists wrote the lyrics about anger and confusion.

As people were enjoying their life, they got used to having enough money for anything they want, an interest in going to church became less popular. As it was interpreted in the article, people´s desire was not to go to church as they were interested in other and better entertainments and the society became more secular and materialistic. One of the reasons why religion almost disappeared was influx of immigrants as they brought new religions to Britain with them.17 The society changed in many aspects and the religion must have been one of them as well.

People desired to have everything, wanted to enjoy every single moment but that would be impossible without money. Therefore, people wanted to gain the best job. In order to find a well-paid job, it is necessary to acquire education first. Marwick claims that in the sixties there was a school growth due to an increasing number of people living in Wales and England. People always paid attention to money and consequently they were interested in attending prestigious schools such as technological universities or polytechnics ones so that they could have the most convenient job. Britain founded 31 universities, 10 colleges focused on technology, 600 technical colleges and 150 teacher-training colleges. Before going to university, children had to undergo basic education. It was divided into two types: secondary education and secondary modern school. Secondary education was for academically bright children and the secondary modern school was for children who had difficulties with learning. They could be called as “failures”.18 Education has always been important, especially in Britain because people belonged into different social classes and differences were huge among people. It was influenced by education and family you came from.

Britain underwent many changes in the sixties, but the biggest expansion hit the peak in the seventies. One of them was the attitude towards work and family. In the first half of the 20th century, people had to work eleven or twelve hours a day, in the 1970´s it changed notably. According to Hopkins, working hours were only 40 hours a week. There was enough work for

16 “Drugs in the Vietnam War”, esri, https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=b59fef8b2af345d28553d58509b365a2. 17 “Religion through time in the UK,” BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/znjnb9q/revision/1. 18 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 151-155. 14 most people and more leisure time for their family, home maintenance or decorating houses than in the past. Women worked every day as hard as men did. Consequently, women did not focus as much on their children as in the past, they became careerists. As Marwick stated, the Equal Pay Act passed in 1970 but officially the law became valid in 1975.19 So, there was an equality among women and men in salaries. Consequently, women wanted to have smaller families so that they could get back to work as soon as possible. According to statistics, the average number of children was two. The popularity of marriages was raising between 50’s and 70’s but at the same time divorce rate increased owing to emancipation of women. The discontented wives had enough money and were able to pay trials. Divorce Reform Act was set up in 1969. The divorce procedure took at least two years until it was clear that a married couple was in breakdown of the marriage and if the breakdown was doubted by the court, it could last up to five years.20 As women had more rights and were no more submissive and relying on their husbands financially, the role of men changed a bit as well. According to Hopkins, most of the families had two-wage earners and it led to bigger consumerism. Men were not the only one who had to secure the whole family. But many men let their wives doing all the housework as women came home from work.21 Although women were busier, their position improved. Equality and freedom are one of the most significant and apt words for this period.

19 Marwick, The sixties, 719. 20 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 164-165. 21 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 164. 15

2 The Beatles

The Beatles – a line-up comprising of four members who managed to succeed in their music despite coming from a working class. Almost everyone on this planet recalls at least one song by The Beatles. This band influenced a society not only in thinking but at the same time in a way of clothing and hair style. Moreover, it represents youth culture and proves that even poor people from the working class can conquer the world.

Rock-and-roll was the typical music style for the Beatles however, they did not resist listening to neither Pop, Blues, Jazz nor Classical or even to Indian music. Their production was originally inspired and influenced by Elvis Presley but also by skiffle music, which was at its peak in the 50´s in the 20th century in England and it was considered as black music. According to Matzner, the history of skiffle goes back to the last decades of the 19th century and the roots come from New Orleans. Typically, this music style was mainly played by people who belonged to the lowest working-class. Due to lack of money, the musicians were playing on bottles, jugs and instead of trombones or trumpets, they used a comb. Lonnie Donegan is considered as one of the famous musicians who played and was interested in skiffle style.22 This music style became popular among most people, especially among young people coming from the working-class as everyone could afford these instruments as they were almost free. The Beatles gave a hope to everyone that it is possible to play the instruments even though people do not attend any kind of music school but are interested in music.

Not only were black people and other musicians such as Ken Colyer, Alexis Korner, Chris Barber or Lonnie Donegan playing skiffle but also The Quarrymen from which the Beatles were later originated. As Miles stated, everything started when Paul McCartney was accompanied by his friend Ivan Vaughn who contributed to meet John Lennon at a concert in Liverpool as Ivan and John have known each other for a long time. John heard Paul singing and playing the guitar and after a few days or weeks, he was invited to join John´s skiffle band. Little by little other musicians left and only John and Paul were remaining. Then George Harrison and Pete Best became part of this band as well. However, Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Star who became the last member of the Beatles.23 Youth culture of the sixties was full

22 Antonín Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci trans. Miloš Skalka (Praha: Mladá Fronta, 1987), 24-25. 23Barry Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, trans. Libor Stejskal (Bratislava: CHAMPAGNE AVANTGARDE, 1993), 9-20. 16 of awareness of social issues, drugs and sex. So that the Beatles could succeed and break through music, they had to be on the same wavelength.

Every member of the Beatles had to deal with different issues that happened to them during their first 20 years since their birth. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star were the guys who became phenomenon and heroes for many people worldwide in 1960´s thanks to their originality. Before becoming successful and well-known, some of them had to go through troubles and complicated correlations.

As Matzner stated, John Lennon did not grow up in an ideal family background. He came from a single-parent family as his father Alfred Lennon, called Fred, worked as a steward on a boat and therefore, he lived separately from home. The only connection between John´s parents were money orders, which were automatically sent every month until Fred was arrested for a theft of hard liquor. Fred and John have seen each other only twice in their life. Consequently, later John said that “It was like he was dead”.24 Lindaur stated that John was raised by his aunt Mimi Smith who has practically adopted him since he turned 5 years. Although his mother (Julia) did not live with him, they got on well and were something like friends. Unfortunately, a disaster happened when Julia was walking on the road and car crashed into her. Regrettably no one managed to help her, and she died. John was only 18 years old at this time.25 It must have been tough for John as he did not have neither dad nor mother.

Another member of this band was Paul who was two years younger than John. According to Schmiedel, his father worked as a lighting electrician in a music hall in Liverpool and his mother (Mary) was employed as a midwife in a hospital. Paul´s brother called Michael was a musician as well. They looked as a contented family without any problems. However, Mary started to have health issues but even though she underwent a surgery, it did not help her, and she died of breast cancer when Paul was only 13 years old. His father did his best despite not having enough money and both his sons were grateful for his behaviour and solicitude.26 John and Paul had similar fate, both their mothers passed away and maybe it strengthened their friendship even more. Both had to take care of themselves and strike out on their own. Also, as it was mentioned in the previous chapter, there was an increasing incident of single parent families and divorces.

24 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 19-20, my own translation. 25 Lindaur Vojtěch, “Pohádka s nešťastným koncem o dlouhém Honzovi”, Reflex, 2010, 12. 26 Gottfried Schmiedel, The Beatles trans. Igor Šingliar (Bratislava: OPUS, 1988), 14-15. 17

Two more members belonged to the Beatles but fortunately they did not experience so miserable situations and disasters like Paul or John. George Harrison was the youngest member of the Beatles. He was the only one who came from a whole family where mother and father lived together. According to Schmiedel, George´s mother worked as a shop assistant and his father used to work as a steward on a boat but later, he stopped working there and became a bus driver so that he could spend more time with his family. George had troubles with studying and behaviour, he dressed in an original style and did not respect teachers. His mother supported him in the rebellion and the way of dressing.27

The last member who joined the Beatles was Ringo Star. According to Matzner, his real name was Richard Starkey after his father working as a baker labourer. When Richard was three years old, his father walked out of his mother. Richard´s childhood was not happy due to health troubles that occurred at the early times of his life. When he was six years old, he fell into a coma for 10 weeks, after undergoing a surgery. After Richard was discharged home, he was the only one who was not able to read and write in the school. He did not graduate from high school on the grounds of other health issues. He tried many kinds of jobs and he set up a skiffle band with his co-worker Eddie Miles. After some time, he joined the Beatles and it was a milestone for him as he did not have to work anymore.28

Despite not coming from ideal family backgrounds, the boys were smart enough and competent to stack up against other famous bands such as the Rolling Stones or the Who. There is an irony in a way of presenting themselves on stage. Unlike the Beatles, the members of the Rolling Stones came from the middle class and performed as hooligans while the Beatles dressed as people from the middle-class despite coming from the working-class. The members of the Who did not come from as wealthy conditions as the Rolling Stones, they were more like The Beatles.

Nevertheless, it is Brian Epstein, a music entrepreneur, who had the biggest credit for shooting the Beatles to fame. He made many changes in their hairstyle, the way of dressing and behaviour. Consequently, the Beatles became original and people loved them. Brian was considered as the fifth Beatle. According to Beschloss, he came from a Jewish family, which owned several shops selling furniture, appliance and records. When Brian saw the Beatles performing at Cavern Club, he was amazed and decided to make them “the biggest in the

27 Schmiedel, The Beatles, 16. 28 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 107-109. 18 world”. Harrison called him “very posh, rich feller”. Before Brian became the manager of the Beatles, they were smoking, eating during their performances and wearing leather jackets and jeans. Brian was not satisfied with their attitude hence he banned this unacceptable behaviour and way of presentation. He substituted the clothes with mohair suits and neckties, moreover, he made them bow and set up similar haircuts.29 In fact, he started to change their appearance and the poor boys from the working-class identity did not look like them anymore. Their fashion style was rather middle-class. Moreover, they could be considered as a culture commodification or article who were not difficult to be sold worldwide. Not only did Brian Epstein contribute to fame of the Beatles but also George Martin. According to Reck, George Martin worked as a producer, mixer, arranger and sometimes he played on the keyboard together with other members of the Beatles. Also, he was a head of artists and repertoire at Parlophone Records division of EMI.30 As time passed, the Beatles were offered to participate in bigger concerts and tours abroad.

People started to be going mad when they heard or saw the Beatles, this insanity resulted in so called “Beatlemania”. Coming to America for the first time in 1964, people went into a frenzy and that assured the Beatles that they will succeed. According to Pach, the Beatles managed to achieve something that has never happened to any band or a singer so far. During one week, five singles of the Beatles´ became the most listened ones. Furthermore, their songs were at the top for fourteen weeks. Everyone was singing and listening to the songs, in addition men started to dress like the Beatles and at the same time the haircuts became greatly popular among the population of America.31 It was just a dream for most people to become famous abroad, moreover for someone coming from the working class who could become well-known worldwide it was more sci-fi than a reality. The Beatles made it.

The Beatles were interested and fascinated not only by America but at the same time by India. Even though the Beatles were considered as atheists, they were fascinated by Indian music, culture and religion. According to Turner, the experience with LSD and reading books about Hinduism caused the thought that God exists, at least the Beatles were influenced by it.

29 “The Fifth Man: Brian Epstein and the Beatles”, The New York Times, last modified April 10, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/upshot/the-fifth-man-brian-epstein-and-the-beatles.html. 30 Reck, David R. "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition." Asian Music 16, no. 1 (1985): 98. Accessed February 14, 2020. doi:10.2307/834014. 31 Pach, Chester. ""Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay": Using Popular Music to Teach about Dating and Youth Culture from Elvis to the Beatles." OAH Magazine of History 18, no. 4 (2004): 47. Accessed February 18, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25163702. 19

They started to believe that God is a part of everything.32 The Beatles loved to experiment and blur the differences not only in their thoughts but also in the music styles. Some of their later albums included Indian music. As Farrell stated, there are typical Indian and Western instruments. which were used in some of the Beatles´ songs, such as: “a dilruba (bowed stringed instrument), sitar, tabld, tamburds and svarmandal (a strummed zither-like instrument sometimes used by Indian vocalists to accompany themselves.)”33 As it was stated in an article, the Beatles came to India to take part in meditation with an Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968 and during their stay, they wrote the whole album called White Album. The Beatles´ original plan was to spend there a three-month retreat, however, all of them left the country earlier.34 This period relates to psychedelic era, where psychedelic drugs like LSD were taken by many people but also spirituality played a role. People found it easier to understand to religion and to other mystic experiences through drugs.

Although people became more openminded and influenced by the psychedelic era, some of them did not put up with what had happened. Sometimes, it may happen that just a few sentences expressed publicly can change everything in a moment. This refers to a statement made by John Lennon in 1966 explaining that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus.

Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proven right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was alright, but His disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins.35 As it was mentioned in the first chapter, popularity of religion declined, and John Lennon and his speech was a proof of this statement.

According to Sullivan, the quote above caused a massive backlash, burning of records, banning the Beatles´ music on dozens of radios and the popularity of their music stagnated in America. John was forced to apologize by Brian, and he did it however, he stood by that being more popular than the Christ is right. Therefore, not everyone accepted the apology, especially

32 Steve Turner, Beatles Revoluční rok 1966 trans. Petr Ferenc (Plzeň: Jiří Ševčík, 2018), 66. 33 Farrell, Gerry. "Reflecting Surfaces: The Use of Elements from Indian Music in Popular Music and Jazz." Popular Music 7, no. 2 (1988): 195. Accessed February 14, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/853536. 34 “Beatles´ Indian retreat opened to public”, BBC News, last modified 9 December 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35048219. 35 Sullivan, Mark. "'More Popular Than Jesus': The Beatles and the Religious Far Right." Popular Music 6, no. 3 (1987): 313-314. Accessed February 17, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/853191. 20 the religious far-right.36 This affair with Jesus endangered the whole band however, in Britain many people were not insulted as the religion did not play such a significant role as in America.

John Lennon was the biggest rebel of the whole band. Owing to his statements, opinions and behaviour, he provoked one guy into a murder. As Matzner stated, Mark David Chapman was at fault, he shot John Lennon on 8 December 1980 in Manhattan. Meeting with John in the morning that day preceded this action.37 Even though the Beatles broke up a few years before this disaster happened, John´s death confirmed irretrievable end of the Beatles.

36 Sullivan, Mark. "'More Popular Than Jesus': The Beatles and the Religious Far Right." Popular Music 6, no. 3 (1987): 313-314. Accessed February 17, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/853191. 37 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 259. 21

3 The working-class

At the beginning, it is necessary to define what is meant by the term “working-class people”, who they are and what things are typical for them. As Hoggard stated, working-class people live in some parts of cities in back-to-backs or tunnels-back houses, which are predominantly rented as most of the people cannot afford to buy the house. In 1954, most of those people work for a wage which means that they get money every week, not every month as it is normal when getting a salary. The usual occupations of working-class people were barbers, grocers, cobblers, bike-menders etc.38 They live simply in comparison to middle or upper classes as they are not as educated as them and therefore, they cannot afford a high comfort and a well-paid job.

Changes in social classes among people became clearly visible in the 50´s and the 60´s due to “affluence” that occurred those days. The increasing wages, higher standards of living and consumption are the main ideas what is meant by “affluence”. Even though someone could think that due to higher earnings would make the society even more different in perspective of classes, it is believed that some changes blurred the boundaries among people and Britain started to be considered as “classless”. However, Marwick stated that the word “classless” was exaggerated because only a few things among classes became equal. Throughout the sixties, polls and interviews showed that more than 90% of people are aware of social class existence. A sample of respondents were chosen to allocate themselves and the results are following. A percentage of people who believed they belong to working-class was 67, 29 per cent classified themselves as people from middle-class, 1 per cent considered themselves as upper-working- class and one more per cent allocated themselves to lower-middle-class.

British people are recognized to what class they belong according to their way of speaking, especially the pronunciation and use of particular words help to find out the social class. One of the great successes coming from the working-class was an acceptance of regional accents. The accents typical for working-class and middle-class started to appear in other parts of England, therefore, standard southern English pronunciation was not used publicly as the only one.39 Consequently, even not well-educated people understood when listening to a radio or watching a television. Also, there are several dialects and accents spoken by people from all classes on the basis of the place where they come from. One of the cities where working-class accent is being spoken is Liverpool and the accent is called Scouse. In the article, there was

38 Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, (Victoria, Penguin Books Pty Ltd, 1958), 20-21, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463228/page/n19/mode/2up. 39 Marwick, British society since 1945, 124. 22 explained that Scouse was created thanks to influx of Irish and Welsh who came to this city in the past. All kinds of different accents and dialects contributed to a creation of Scouse and still this accent is developing nowadays. When teenagers and their grandparents start to speak, there are visible differences in the language.40 People cannot choose which dialect or accent they want to speak because they are born into a particular region and family. The Beatles are a typical example of the boys who were born into working-class families living in Liverpool and hearing this accent from their childhood.

Even though differences among people did not disappear and people still easily distinguished who belongs to which social class, England was considered as “classless” for some reasons as it was indicated before. Also, fashion of the 60´s helped to make the society equal in an appearance. As Hopkins stated, “Teenage Revolution” appeared in the sixties and middle-class and working-class dressed in a similar way. It started in early in the fifties when Teddy boys showed up for the first time. Young people wore Edwardian suit with close-fitting jacket and tight trousers combined with a thick mop of hair and crepe-soled shoes known as “brothel creepers”. This style was successfully substituted by mods and rockers, suits were typical for mods while rockers´ fashion style represented more casual with the emphasis on leather jackets. Other people who wanted to dress even more casually put on jeans, which were favourite especially in the United Stated. Also, beards reappeared, and men preferred long hair to short one.41 Thanks to the same clothes and fashion that were worn by most people, it was not easy to recognize who belonged to which class at first side. Also, people from working- class felt more accepted by others and their confidence and feeling of being a part of a society improved.

Not only did fashion contribute to integration of people from working-class but also many kinds of entertainments turned into attractiveness among people coming from all classes. According to Hopkins, as surveyed in 1970, men who were married and employed, watching TV was the most popular activity in leisure time because almost everyone owned the television those days. As for the sports activities, swimming and less favourite fishing were two main sports. Also, they went for a drive, for a walk and to pubs. It was found out that more people from middle and upper classes were interested in going to church and going out for a meal unlike the working-class. Travelling, another entertainment which was extraordinary for

40 “Local Dialect,” BBC News, last modified 30 April 2008, http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2005/01/11/voices_liverpoolaccent_feature.shtml. 41 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 172-173. 23 working-class people in the past. Package holidays became fashionable however, spending the fortnight at camps lost attractiveness in the sixties even among poor people as they started traveling into better places.42 As it was mentioned in the first chapter, standards of living were rising, wages as well and electronics and cars were more affordable than ever before, therefore, even working-class people had more opportunities to fluctuate their lifestyle and fully enjoy their life. Especially young people who were born in the second half of the 40´s were those ones who were enjoying their life the most, as they did not experience the wars, therefore, they did not have bad experience. To set an example, the Beatles were these young people who corresponded with the new lifestyle who loved to rebel and were not afraid of potential issues connected with rebellion.

Working-class teenagers had a different perspective on all kinds of entertainments and other things in comparison to an older generation. According to Donnelly, working-class youth did not spend long time studying, they ended their studies at the age of fifteen as they took the advantage of high demand for unskilled workers. Instead of buying fridges or cookers, they rather spent their money on cultural entertainment such as magazines, fashion, films, posters of groups and singers.43 Mainly youth contributed to rich expansion of culture and thanks to them the consumerism and cultural development prospered. “Teenagers” and “youth” have been already mentioned, but the difference in meaning of these two words referring to young people might not be clear. As Marwick stated, “teenagers” are at the age of fifteen until twenty-five. They were formed by young earners who were not married, and no longer attended school. Unlike the teenagers, the second group´s age (the “youth”) was set up in the early 20s, not 25. They could decide whether to study or not as they were free of educational constrains.44 All young age categories played a significant role in a culture development in the sixties and if it was not for them, the society would not have changed so much.

Also, the literature became trendy in the 1960´s as people started to read more. According to Marwick, “Angry young men” was a group of intellectuals whose publishing and writings were influenced by youth and they shunted back by fifteen or twenty years, even though they were not young. Among the most well-known writers from “Angry young men” who belonged to working-class and achieved the fame were Kingsley Amis, Doris Lessing,

42 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes,179-182. 43 Mark Donnelly, Culture, Society and Politics, (Edinburg: Longman, 2005), 35, http://93.174.95.29/main/4C1AB4DE7B438571EC98E170F0B7FB8A. 44 Marwick, The sixties, 43. 24

Colin Wilson and of course John Osborne who wrote a well-known book Look Back in Anger.45 As some working-class writers, singers and bands became famous and respected by the society, having an origin of working-class did not mean to be someone inferior as it used to be in the previous decades.

As working-class people took up reading, traveling and other activities, going to church started to be less frequented place for most people. As Hoggart stated, working-class people did not attend church often, only a few of the areas where working-class people lived gathered to worships. Generally, at least one member of a family was a regular attender of a church. Although many people did not go to church, they still felt that attending some special events is important. They attend an anniversary service, a concert or a church bazaar.46 It is a sign of being influenced by the whole society where materialism and other activities were more attractive than going to church.

One of the next reasons why the working-class became more equal to other classes was due to rise of non-white settlements in Britain. It started in the 19th century when many nations moved to Britain and therefore, Britain turned into “multi-racial” society. As Hopkins stated, immigration and mixing cultures have a long history, especially it started in the 17th century in Britain when first Asian arrived in Britain. New immigrants moved there as the country offered a free accommodation and enough opportunities to immigrants to find a job. Regarding Asians, from 1955 onwards, the number of immigrants was 8,000 – 10,000 but by 1971 the population of West Indians rose to 546,000 and they settled down in London and West Midlands. Generally, the Government thought that the immigrants were helpful as they did not resist working hard and could be employed as unskilled workers. Middle-class was not against the immigrants as well, but the working-class people were not so satisfied as they lived in the same neighbourhoods together with the immigrants. Attitudes of English working-class to coloured immigrants was generally positive, they tolerated them, especially when they knew them personally. However, there were some English who were xenophobic and could not accept different cultural patterns such as different religions, cooking habits, or way of dressing.47 Maybe, that working-class people saw rivals in immigrants, and they were afraid of being substituted by them at work. Indigenous British did not want to share their space and place for living with strangers who do not have much in common with Britain.

45 Marwick, British society since 1945, 97, 100. 46 Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy, 87-88. 47 Hopkins, The Rise and Decline of the English working classes, 183-186. 25

Not only did working-class people see in immigrants a danger, but also other people from different classes, in the middle of sixties. Consequently, racial tensions reached the peak. As it was stated in the article, Conservative party won the election in 1964 after a campaign slogan expressed by Peter Griffiths who said: "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour". Every year in the mid 60´s, more than 75,000 immigrants arrived in the Midlands and therefore, West Midlanders´ desire was not to live with them in the same place. The immigrants were considered as not clean, a nuisance at work and at the same time when passing them in the streets meant horror, their position in the society was not ideal.48 Although the immigrants moved to Britain for better life, the reality seemed to be different due to racial ignorance and intolerance.

48 BBC News, “England in 1966: Racism and ignorance in the Midlands,” last modified 1 June 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-36388761. 26

4 Lyrics

The Beatles was a well-known band for having so many catchy melodies, but the background of their songs is even more interesting than just the melody. At the beginning of the band´s music career, their songs consisted of only a few words and the meaning was usually related to love. In the next years, they started writing texts focused on topics, which were influenced by events, changes and difficulties happening in the sixties and at the same time in their personal lives. This band was extraordinary, had special hairstyles and wore peculiar clothes. In this chapter, some of their songs will be examined and analysed on the basis of particular events happening in the 60´s, which influenced the lyrics and the meaning of songs.

The Rolling Stones, another significant band coming from London, which was set up in 1962 still exists nowadays despite not having the same members for the whole time. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are still alive and play in the band, they are the most famous members. The Rolling Stones came from middle-class as it was mentioned earlier and they were bigger rebels than the Beatles. According to Cohen, they looked like they were beaten, as old as leather but everyone had a special identity. This appearance was caused by bohemian lifestyle which included staying up late and drinking.49 As it was stated in an article, the manager of the Stones - Adrew Loog Oldham wanted to make them different from the Beatles, therefore, from the bad-boy image, Oldham experimented with white uniforms as he knew that the Beatles´ jackets became a most popular among people.50 The Rolling Stones were competitors to the Beatles. Therefore, they presented themselves more like tough guys in contrast to the polite Beatles. At the same time, the lyrics of their songs reflect their attitude and rebellion. The Who is an examples of another famous rock band of that time that also became a competitor to the Beatles. The Who were established in 1964 in London and they consisted of 4 members such as Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.

As it was pointed out in the theoretical part, drugs became a big part of the society in the 60´s and some of the Beatles´ songs relate to drugs such as LSD. “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” is a song from an album called Sgt. Pepper´s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was the most successful album by the Beatles. The name of the song is the first indicator that it has

49 Rich Cohen, Slunce, Měsíc & Rolling Stones, trans. Jan Kozák (JOTA, s.r.o., 2016), https://www.bookport.cz/e-kniha/slunce-mesic-a-rolling-stones-100205/#. 50 “How the Rolling Stones Became Fashion Icons,” The New York Times, last modified 9 November 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/fashion/rolling-stones-fashion-icons.html. 27 much in common with LSD because it is an acronym of Lucy, Sky, Diamonds. Also, there are other references to drugs in some lines. “Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies”, the Beatles invented a combination of horse and person, which rocks and eats marshmallow pies. Such a creature does not exist in a real life so, they probably took LSD and the idea of this came easily to their minds. The word “Flowers” that appeared in another line, refers to hippies and drugs, which were typical of American culture. It means that America affected the Beatles as well in the sixties. According to Matzner, John Lennon disagreed that this song was about drugs. Lennon claimed that his son Julian drew a picture of Lucy in the sky with diamonds in school which was later approved by Julian.51 It is hard to say, where the truth is but there are hints that confirm an occurrence of narcotics but at the same time it might have been just Julian´s incredible imagination.

The next song connected with drugs is called “Day Tripper” from an album Yesterday and Today. John Lennon explained who Day trippers are: “Day trippers are people who go on a day trip, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But it was kind of – you know, you’re just a weekend hippie. Get it?“52 In this song, an author (John Lennon) compares a girl to a day tripper and one way ticket which means that the girl wanted to enjoy her life like day trippers do – a day tripper is searching for a pleasure in a short time. One-way ticket can be comprehended like when the girl goes somewhere with the guy, but she does not go back with him, they spent just one trip or journey together. In another line “Tried to please her, she only played one nights stands” proves that the girl does not have any intention to be neither in touch nor in a relationship with the guy. Therefore, it seems to be more about love than drugs, but trippers relate to drugs and hippies as well.

The following song was considered as a song about drugs by mistake – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. Almost everyone knows this song by heart. It was released in 1964 in an album Meet the Beatles! In this song, there is a boy or a man who is dreaming about being a boyfriend of a girl. For instance, in the line “You'll let me be your man”. He cannot help falling in love and avoid such nice feelings. “And when I touch you I feel happy inside”. It may seem clear and without doubts that it is about love but according to Matzner, a well-known singer Dylan thought that it is about LSD. This opinion was based on a misunderstanding. In original lyrics, there is a line – “I Can´t Hide” but Dylan thought that he heard - “I Get High”. Moreover, Dylan

51 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 208. 52 “Day Tripper,” The Beatles Bible not quite popular as Jesus, last modified 10 February 2020, https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/day-tripper/. 28 became the first person with whom the Beatles tried smoking cannabis for the first time.53 This might have contributed to his conviction. Smoking with Dylan was not the first and last experience with drugs as it will be proven in a next song called “Help!”. Paul McCartney and John Lennon are the authors of this song, where they ask for help as they do not feel good. “Help me if you can I´m feeling down and I do appropriate you being round”. Even though, the melody of the song seems like quick rock´n´roll, the background was different. As Matzner stated, John Lennon admitted that the Beatles went through tough times when they were smoking cannabis instead of eating breakfast. Also, he explained that this song was about being in their own world.54 This song was composed as a soundtrack for a film of the same name in 1965.

The sexual revolution touched the Stones but at the same time drugs played a significant role and inspiration in the the music production as well as for the Beatles. Therefore, they wrote many songs about narcotics and sex, which were no more taboo in the 60´s. As Kracík stated, in 1967, Brian Jones suffered from addiction to drugs, depression and self-destructive behaviour. It resulted in leaving the band in 1968.55 It is obvious that the members of the Rolling Stones were bigger rebels than the Beatles as the Beatles did not experience such scandals. The song, which was released at the end of the 60´s, precisely in 1969 is called “Let It Bleed”. The main message of the song declares that having someone and not being alone is very important, such as in the lines – “Well, we need someone we can lean on yeah we all need someone we can dream on”. Unlike the Beatles, the Stones were not afraid of telling things in blunt terms, for example – “And there will always be the space in my parking lot when you need a little coke and sympathy”. The word “coke” is a slang word carrying a meaning of cocaine. As it was mentioned earlier, an allusion to sex appears in the lyrics in the line – “And if you want to well you can cream on me”. The way of writing and expressing the lyrics, the Stones were more straightforward than the Beatles as the Beatles used more hidden thoughts in their songs.

Also, drugs were not unfamiliar to the Who, a song called “The Queen Acid” was released in 1975 in an album Tommy. It is an anti-drug song with its purpose to warn people of possible disaster that is caused by taking drugs. Gypsy tells what happens to addicted people in the line - “He´s never been more alive his head it shakes his finger clutch watch his body

53 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 166. 54 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 165. 55 Pavel Kracík, Rolling Stones v Praze, (Praha: Spektrum, 1991), 2, https://kramerius- vs.nkp.cz/view/uuid:d3bae190-2aa4-11e3-a5bb-005056827e52?page=uuid:0ae5e200-60e2-11e3-bc9f- 5ef3fc9bb22f. 29 writhe”. It is stated in an article that this song and the whole album inspired a show, which is based on the songs and its lyrics. In the show, there is a boy who is traumatised and Acid Queen is a role of a drug dealer and prostitute.56 The Who, unlike the Beatles, showed the harmful effect of drugs on people in a real perspective.

Love is a huge theme as all the bands, which have been mentioned so far, reflect the personal experience in their songs. The Beatles were young and went through many troubles and happy moments when it comes to love and love affairs, therefore, this topic was close to them. The songs were positive and sometimes naive. The first song released by the Beatles was “Love Me Do” from an album Please Please Me. It consists of only a few words and lines, which are repeated through the whole song. However, it was purposely written in such a simple way. Paul explained it in an interview: “You got to the certain state, when you say to yourself that there is no point in making such a big philosophy. If you want to make it simple and truthful, it must be above all deliriously simple.”57 It worked, it reached the top number one in America in 1964. In the same year (1964) another successful song was composed, it is called “Can´t Buy Me Love” from an album A Hard Day´s Night. The main message of this song is that if someone has everything that can be bought, it does not mean that he owns everything. The boy in this song shares this idea “I don´t care too much about money, money can´t buy me love”. He wants to emphasize that love is pure, and money does not play such a significant role for him.

The following song is “All my loving” from an album With The Beatles (1963). It represents unconditional love by introducing a man who assures a girl of loving her, even when he is away, he promises to send all his love to her. He simply loves her so much and he is dreaming about kissing her lips. “I´ll pretend that I´m kissing the lips I am missing”. The next song concerning love is called – “Eight Days A Week” released in 1964 in album Beatles for Sale. At first, the number of days is nonsense, the normal week has seven days, not eight days. Therefore, there is a hint that someone was in such a deep love that he forgot number of days of one week. “Love” is a word, which appears almost in every line. It is positive but the boy is not sure about girl´s feelings and love towards him, which is illustrated in the following line - “Hope you need my love babe”. The following song was released in 1963 and it is called “She Loves you” from an album Twist and Shout. In accordance with the article, the original idea of

56 “The Who's Pete Townshend writes new song for rock opera Tommy,“ BBC News, last modified 15 March 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39266263. 57 Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, 79, My own translation. 30 this song was a kind of call-and-response pattern because the lines – “yeah, yeah, yeah” should have been the answer.58 This song reflects issues in relationships, arguments between lovers, forgiveness and love. The lyrics are not told by a first-person narrator but a narrator who retells what the girl said. For example – “She said you hurt her so, she almost lost her mind”. According to Matzner, “She Loves you” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” were not sung only in English language but also in German version – “Komm, gib mir deine Hand” and “Sie liebt dich” which were released in 1964.59 The Beatles encouraged Germany and other non-native English speaking countries to listen to English songs.

Also, the Rolling Stones wrote songs about love. “Angie” is a song from an album Goats Head Soup, which was released in 1973. In this song, the Rolling Stones wanted to show that arguments between lovers due to lack of money can result in breakup, like in the lines – “With no lovin´ in our souls and no more money in our coats”. He thinks that it is right time to split up, it is clear in the line – “But ain´t it time we say goodbye”. Another song which was released in 1965 is called “That´s How Strong My Love Is” from an album Out of Our Heads. It is very lyrical and full of metaphors. There is a guy who compares his strong love to the sun, moon, ocean or breeze. For instance, in the lines – “I´ll be the moon when the sun go down to let you know I´m still around”. In other words, he wants to demonstrate his desire to be with a girl every moment in his life and take care of her. Also in the lines – “I´ll be the rainbow when the sun is gone wrap you in my colours and keep you warm”, he wants to emphasize that when she has issues or she is worried, he will be there for her.

The previous songs about love by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were expressed in metaphors, straightforwardly or maybe some of them in a naive form. The Who´s first song is called “I can´t explain” which is different from the songs by other bands. It was released at first in America in 1964 and in UK in 1965. It is about love which is only in someone´s mind. This person is not capable of expressing his feelings to a girl– “Can´t explain I think it´s love try to say it to you”. It refers to a teenage love but due to shyness and inexperience, the love is unexpressed. In this song, there are described mixture of feelings of a boy, such as – “I feel hot and cold dizzy in my head and I´m feeling blue”.

Another song by the Who refers to love, loneliness and sadness. “Pictures of Lily” was released in 1968. The first verse concerns a boy who has troubles with sleeplessness and

58 “She Loves You,“ The Beatles Bible not quite popular as Jesus, accessed 12 February 2020, https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/she-loves-you/. 59 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 268. 31 awkward feelings. His father gives him pictures of Lily and the result of it is clear in the lines – “I don´t feel so bad at all pictures of Lily made my life so wonderful pictures of Lily helped me sleep at night”. After some time, the boy came to realize that he loves Lily – “I fell in love with Lily”. He wants to meet her, but his father explains why it is impossible – “She´s been dead since 1929”.

Personal family issues affected John Lennon because he was a part of negative changes happening in the sixties. As it was mentioned in the theoretical part, the popularity of marriages was rising but at the same time divorces occurred in the 60´s and many families fell apart. John Lennon belonged to one of these families. A song by the Beatles concerning divorce is “Hey Jude” from a non-album singles released in 1968 written by Paul McCartney. The main ideas and themes of this song are inspiration and encouragement. John was trying to make the situation looked better than it was. As specified by Miles, this song was made at times when John and Cynthia broke up and Paul went to visit Cynthia and her son Julian. As Paul and Julian were good friends, Paul wrote the song for Julian because he was going through tough times. At the beginning, Paul was singing “Hey Jules” but later he changed the name on Jude as it sounded more western and country.60 The message from Paul to Julian should lead him to the realisation that he ought to rise above the issues. It is expressed in two lines – “Don´t carry the world upon your shoulders” or “Take a sad song and make it better”. Another message of this song is that nobody should be afraid of expressing emotions and feelings – “For well you know that´s a fool, who plays it cool”.

It is sad when a relationship between two people results in marital break-up, but it is even worse, when someone loses a close family member. This refers to a song called “Yesterday”. There is also a funny and interesting about the origin of this song. As Matzner stated, one day, Paul McCartney woke up and started playing a melody on the piano. After a short time, the new song was made. In order not to forget the melody, he was singing about scrambled eggs.61 Concerning the lyrics of this song, it is sure that it refers to the past. He was thinking about carefree times, for instance in this line - “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away” or “Oh, I believe in yesterday”. The chorus is about Paul´s mother who had died 9 years before this song was composed. “Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say”. Now, Paul is aware of the loss and the rest of the lyrics is full of hopelessness. He does not seem to know what to do – “Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be, there's a shadow hanging over

60 Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, 98. 61 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 168. 32 me, oh, yesterday came suddenly”. “Let It Be” composed by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, represents another song connected with Paul´s mother as well. This song was released in 1968 and it was from the last Beatles´ album Let it be. The woman from this song is called Marry, which is a name of Paul´s mother who passed away when Paul was a child. Marry appeared in Paul´s tough times. In chorus, there is mainly one line continuously repeated – “Let it be”. She wanted to emphasize or give advice that it is not worth worrying about some things and people. As Matzner stated, this song was played 30 January 1969 on the roof of Apple Corps in Sevile for only friends and employees of the company only. No one had an idea that they were being part of historical event as it was the last time when the Beatles got together to play at the last unofficial concert in their life.62

“Pain it black” is a well-known song written by the Rolling Stones from an album Aftermath which was brought out in 1966. The background of this song is sad and depressive. In this song, there is a guy who is going through miserable time in his life. “No colours anymore I want them turn black” this line is an evidence that he lost all optimism and, everything sees negatively. Moreover, black colour represents sorrow, fear, death and aggression. In other two lines, there is a sign that this song refers to a girl who passed away. “I see a line of cars and they´re painted black with flowers and my love both never to come back”, “line of cars” represents hearses because they have typicaly a black colour. The boy is in a state of mind when he thinks that he will never be able to open to anyone again, such as in the line – “I look inside myself and see my heart is black”. This song is extraordinary and neither the Beatles nor the Who wrote such a depressive song. Another song that will be analysed is called “(I can´t get no) Satisfaction”, which was released as a single in 1965 in the USA for the first time and in the same year, it appeared in an American album called Out of Our Heads. This song became a milestone for the Rolling Stones as it is played by many singers worldwide as well as by the Stones nowadays. Concerning the lyrics and the meaning of this song, it is rather negative and depressive, as it is obvious even from the name of the song. A boy is bored by everything that he hears and cannot find any satisfaction to change his attitude. Some of the Who´s songs are really dismal in comparison to the Beatles´ songs.

Not only were personal issues reflected in the lyrics of the Beatles´ songs but also the reality of work-life is depicted in a song called “A Hard Day´s Night”. Generally, working- class people worked in factories and on account of the Beatles´ origin, they wrote a song called

62 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 244-245. 33

“A Hard Day´s Night”, which was composed as a soundtrack for a film of the same name. This song is about a man who worked hard to indulge his girlfriend. He compares himself to a dog on a lead – “It's been a hard day's night, and I'd been working like a dog”. It reflects the time of consumerism, which was at its peak in the sixties and many people desired to buy everything and enjoy their life. So that they could achieve and buy all the things, they had to work hard.

One of the Rolling Stones´ songs relates to a similar topic. However, it focuses on the importance of money rather than on the work itself. The song is called “Money (That´s What I Want)”, which was released in 1964. A man´s desire is to have as much money as possible – “Now give me money (that´s what I want)”. In this song, he tries to explain that although money is not everything, nobody can live without them such as in a line – “Your loving give me a thrill but your loving don´t pay my bills”. This song reflects the perspective on the consumerism and greed of people who wanted to own everything.

As it was mentioned in the theoretical part, wars preceded the period of a boom of developments, revolutions and social changes for better. There was one particular war that influenced the whole world despite taking place in Vietnam. In 1967, a new and important song was released – “All You Need Is Love”. It relates to Vietnam war and John Lennon´s anti-war attitude. Although Vietnam war was not regarding Britain but America and Asian states, John Lennon was interested in it. According to Matzner, the premiere of this song was on TV in a programme called Our World and almost 200 million people were watching TV and enjoying this moment. The Beatles believed that love is the only pill which can heal anything. Thanks to this song many strikes, revolutions concerning racial convulsions happened during the next year. The reasons for these strikes and fights were deficiency of dignity of people. At this time a new slogan was created – Make Love – Not War.63 The intention of this song is to deal with the fact that what is impossible is impossible and no one can do anything about it, it was expressed in a line – “There is nothing you can do that can´t be done”. The most important message by John Lennon is in a line – “All You Need Is Love”. It means that it is not worth concerning and worrying about issues and negative thoughts because everything what you need in your life is love. One more song written just by John Lennon (not by the Beatles) is a song called “Happy Xmas (War is over)” which it is also connected with war, racism and love. It refers to hope, new beginnings and anti-racism attitude. In other words, everyone is entitled to have the same rights, no one should be prejudiced against different skin colour as pointed out

63 Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci, 215. 34 in the theoretical part what happened in the 60´s when many immigrants arrived in Britain and they were considered as not clear. It is seen in lines – “And so this is Christmas for black and for white for yellow and red one”.

A song called “Baba O´Riley” by the Who was released in 1971 in an album called Who´s Next referring to Vietnam war and dissatisfaction. As it was mentioned in an article, wasteland stands for Vietnam due to wasting of teenage lives and this song tried to express protest against that.64 “I don´t need to fight to prove I´m right” it means that he does not want to be part of a war and wants to move to another part of Vietnam where war is not present. “Sally take my hand we´ll travel south across the land”. He longs for running away with a girl Sally. Without doubts, both bands wanted piece and they were not fans of fighting and wars.

Unlike the Beatles who tried to inspire people to believe in better times in a song “All You Need Is Love” or the Who despite not being happy about the situation what was happening in Vietnam, their songs represent hope, love and of course disagreement with fighting. The Rolling Stones were more rough and negative. “Gimmer Shelter” is an anti-war song, which was released in 1969 in an album Let it Bleed. In the first line of the first verse, the main message is that people need some place where they can hide from all negative things and escape from the war. “If I don´t get some shelter oh yeah, I´m gonna fade away”. Also, other dreadful social issues are pointed out – “Rape, murder!”.

The differences between young and old generation was obvious and the Who equate with this idea as well as other bands from the sixties. The song which refers to a gap among generations is called “My generation”. The youth cannot imagine being old, they are afraid of becoming old one day. It is expressed in the line - “I hope I die before I get old (talkin´ ´bout my generation)”. A young generation thinks that the older generation does not respect their behaviour and way of thinking therefore, youth feels uncomfortable, “People try to put us d- down (talkin´ ´bout my generation) just because we g-g-get around (talkin´ ´bout my generation)”. Another song connected with revolt against society is called “I´m free”, which was released in 1969 in an album Tommy. It is about encouraging people to live their life that the way they want. “I´m free an´ I´m waiting for you to follow me”.

The Rolling Stones composed a song with the same name like the Who, the song is called “I´m free”. It was released in 1965 in UK album Out of Our Heads. The meaning of this

64 “Don´t Cry, It´s Only Teenage Wasteland,” The New York Times, last modified August 28, 2005, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/opinion/nyregion/dont-cry-its-only-teenage-wasteland-799416.html. 35 song concerns desire to be free. “I´m free to do what I want any old time I´m free to sing my song though it gets out of time”. Generally, youth fought for being free and rebelled against rules set up by older people as they wanted to do what they want and not to limit themselves. The next song by the Rolling Stones is “Street Fighting Man” released in 1968 in an album Beggars Banquet. It is a song that refers to revolutions, strikes and dissatisfaction of people in the sixties. A poor boy from the song wants to revolt against the politics – “Hey think the time is right for a palace revolution”. The Rolling Stones expressed in some lines that people who wanted to fight against the political situation and no revolution were happening, they listened to rock-and-roll music – “Well, what can a poor boy do except to sing for a rock n´ roll band?”

The Beatles´ song called “She´s Leaving Home” is about a generation gap among parents and children. A girl escapes from home despite being well-brought-up and having everything. She decides to leave her home and wants to become independent. “Quietly turning the backdoor key stepping outside, she is free”. Although consumerism is at its peak, in one line, there is explained that money is not everything. “Fun (fun is the only thing that money can´t buy)”. She rebels against her parents and she leaves a letter. “Picks up the letter that´s lying there, ´Daddy our baby´s gone´”. This girl rebels not only against her parents but at the same time against the society.

Another song written by the Beatles is called “Yellow Submarine”, which was released in 1966 in an album Revolver. In 1968, an animated film also called “Yellow Submarine” was inspired by this song. Although it seems to be a childish song, there are many thoughts hidden which refer to social attitudes. “We all live in a yellow submarine” can be understood that the submarine is one world where people live. “And we lived beneath the waves” represents isolation of people as there is a sea between two places and the waves are near a shore. Everyone lives in a particular submarine and there is an isolation among them – “And our friends are all abroad many more of them live next door”. On the other hand, the Beatles wanted to emphasize that people can have everything, they can buy what they want – “As we live a life of ease every one of us has what we need (has what we need)”. This song is full of positive vibes.

The Beatles started being interested in Indian religion and meditation as it was mentioned in the theoretical part. The song called “Norwegian Wood”, which was released in 1965 in an album Rubber Soul, influenced the Beatles and their thinking by coincidence. According to Turner, George accompanied this song by playing on the sitar but one of the strings broke and therefore, he contacted Indian agency where they recommended him to visit Asian Music Circle which was in touch with Indian musicians and many events were held to spread Asian culture 36 and thinking. 65 This contributed to the Beatles´ interest in India. In the lyrics of the song, there are several topics such as love, revenge and game. As Miles stated, John Lennon wrote the song about a girl but without mentioning her so that his wife Cynthia could not recognize anything. He was inspired by long-time experiences from relationships with many girls.66 The girl who is in the song was playing a game, they were just talking and anything else did not happened between them. “We talked until two and then she said It´s time for bed”. He stayed until the morning and his reaction and following action is expressed in the lines – “And when I woke up I was alone the bird had flown so I lit a fire”. Lighting the fire was the revenge. Psychedelic era and Indian religion influenced next songs by the Beatles. One of them is a song called “Tomorrow never knows”, which was released in 1966 in an album Revolver. The Beatles wanted people to stop thinking about troubles and relax. “Turn off your mind relax, and float downstream lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void”.

Another song by the Rolling Stones associated with love and psychedelic era is a song called, “She´s A Rainbow”. The psychedelic era was described in the theoretical part together with the Beatles who were interested in it as well. In the song, a girl is compared to nature and Earth in the lines – “Have you seen her dressed in blue? See the sky in front of you”. A blue colour represents water and it dominates on our Earth. Also, in another line – “She´s like a rainbow”, in the 1960´s, the psychedelic era was present, and colours were part of art and pop art movement. A rainbow consists of several colours and they may reflect the girl´s moods or states of mind.

As it was said in the theoretical part, an interest in religion declined in Britain and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones wrote some songs about this topic. A song written by John Lennon from an album Rubber Soul is called “Girl”. According to Miles, John wanted to express his attitude to Christianity in this song as he did not have so much sympathy with it.67 In the last verse, the first line, there is a criticism of Christianity as pain and pleasure is connected together. “Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure?” Generally, the whole song concerns the girl who is in a way attractive and despite trying hard, it was not possible to resist, such as in the line – “I tried so hard to leave her”.

The Rolling Stones and their song called “Sympathy for the Devil” was released in 1968 in an album Beggars Banquet. This song relates to Christianity as the narrator of this song is

65 Turner, Beatles Revoluční rok 1966, 54. 66 Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, 82. 67 Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, 82. 37

God. The main message is that the God cannot be blamed for all wrong things that happened, but human beings should be blamed. “Who killed the Kennedys? When after all it was you and me.” The narrator was a witness to WWII, crucifixion of Jesus and other wars and fights such as – “I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for decades”. As religion became less popular in the 1960´s in Britain, maybe that the Rolling Stones wanted to force people to think about themselves and encourage them to improve their behaviour.

The last song by the Beatles that will be analysed is called “Revolution” which released in 1968. The Beatles sympathized with people who wanted to change the world but some of them exaggerated their behaviour and became radicals who protest politics and wars. It is an anti-communist song in which a former president of the Republic of China Mao Ce-tung occurs in the lyrics – “But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao you ain´t going to make it with anyone anyhow”. As many revolutions in Europe took place in 1968, the Beatles wrote this revolutionary song.

The meaning of the Beatles´ songs is interesting enough to be studied but also the differences between John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the point of view of way of writing such as word length, word usage, and words that were repeated is worth analysing as well. According to Whissell, computer-driven stylometric analysis showed that John was not as positive as Paul, his less upbeat attitude appeared in many songs as he used fewer pleasant words. The second person pronoun was mostly used and many other words that substituted a word “girl”. In comparison to John, Paul´s songs were more positive where whoops and nonsense words were included. A conjunction “and” was frequently used but also a word “love”.68 The ratio of word use is illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1 Words used by Lennon and McCartney

Word f(Lennon) f(McCartney) Word f(Lennon) f(McCartney) are 35 20 yes 63 31 come 93 26 you 611 588 don´t 100 81 you´re 100 21 girl 75 42 all 77 147 gonna 84 16 and 179 276 got 69 45 back 17 76 he 49 30 da 0 92 I 447 433 day 27 55 if 59 34 do 108 200

68 Whissell, Cynthia. "Traditional and Emotional Stylometric Analysis of the Songs of Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon." Computers and the Humanities 30, no. 3 (1996): 260. Accessed March 14, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/30200392. 38

is 138 74 get 26 74 It´s 78 50 go 26 54 just 39 22 hello 0 52 know 124 111 love 85 218 man 56 42 nah 0 232 on 117 87 never 18 42 said 59 21 now 27 89 she´s 61 31 ooo 21 66 so 89 64 say 33 79 that 129 14 she 85 135 want 46 32 together 15 57 well 42 28 we 13 74 when 76 23 will 28 75 with 64 49 you 60 126

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Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to analyse the Beatles songs but also other songs, which were composed by famous bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Who which were set up in the sixties as well. The main purpose of the analysis was to find out whether the lyrics were influenced by the historical events and social changes. In order to examine the songs properly, it was necessary to explain and provide information about historical, cultural and social background in the theoretical part.

The first chapter dealt with the biggest social and other changes, which were typical for the period of the sixties. For instance, the position of women in the society improved as contraceptive pills started to be available and abortion was no more illegal. Generally, standards of living greatly became better as people had more money thanks to higher wages and working hours reduction on 40 hours a week. People´s desire was to buy and own the latest inventions such as television, some people could afford even washing machines, refrigerators or dishwashing machines. It resulted in consumerism and materialism. To own the mentioned inventions was not enough for everyone therefore, the society became more open to new unexperienced things. Taking drugs became common among people from young to older generation. Although, people were fully enjoying freedom, statistics showed that the popularity of marriages was rising but at the same time divorces owing to emancipation of women and sufficiency of money for trials.

The second chapter focused on the Beatles and its process of formation to break-up. Also, the family background of every member of this band was examined as everyone underwent different experience, which was later used as an inspiration for their songs. Despite coming from working-class families, the Beatles managed to conquer the world. Generally, they were typical example of youth from the sixties as they represent behaviour of young generation who want to enjoy the life. They became phenomenon and heroes for many people worldwide and can be considered as commodification because they were some kind of “product” which was easy to sell.

The last chapter of the theoretical part described the way of living of working-class people and their social life. Despite the Britain was considered as “classless”, the survey showed that people were aware of distinction among social classes. However, there were some activities, which contributed to people´s equality. For instance, leisure time activities such as sports or even travelling was affordable for most people living in Britain in the sixties. Another

40 change helped to integrate working-class people when televisions and radio stopped broadcasting with use of standard southern English pronunciation. The spoken language used in social media adapted to working-class people so that everyone was able to understand. One of the exception groups which was not accepted were immigrants. The society did not tolerate them due to different religion and lifestyle. Especially working-class people had to deal with them because they lived in the same parts of their towns.

The analytical part focused on analysis of songs. Most of the analysed songs were written by the Beatles as they correspond with the time of the sixties and working-class people the most. So that the analysis would become even more interesting, other bands´ songs were compared as well. The Rolling Stones and the Who were the rock bands coming from the sixties. Chosen songs were examined and compared to each other with respect to lyrics and melody of the songs. It was found out that the Beatles´ songs were more polite and positive in comparison to the Rolling Stones whose songs were more rude and tough. The Who´s songs were more depressive and straightforward, especially when it comes to songs concerning drugs, where the Who described the reality of drugs in a song called “The Acid Queen”. Generally, it is obvious that all these bands had the same opinion on society but one of the distinctions among them was the way of expressing their feelings and thoughts.

Another goal of this theses was to examine the meaning of the chosen songs and to find out whether the social changes, which took place in the sixties, influenced or inspired the lyrics of the Beatles´ and other bands´ songs. There were clear signs that at least some of the songs concerned topics related to the sixties such as consumerism, drugs, Vietnam war or youth generation and protests about society. “All You Need Is Love” is a song by the Beatles, which relates to Vietnam war and John Lennon´s anti-war attitude. As for the gap between generations, the Who wrote songs called “My Generation” or “I´m free”. Not only did social changes inspire the Beatles but at the same time their personal experience. For instance, Paul McCartney wrote two songs called “Yesterday” and “Let It Be”, which relate to flashback of his mother (Mary) who died very early when Paul was a child. Another song called “Hey Jude” that was written by Paul is related to divorce, which was typical for the decade of the sixties. All songs became original thanks to the lyrics and catchy melodies for many people worldwide. Furthermore, people saw a connection in the lyrics as some of the songs criticized political system or wars and people could share the same opinions throug the songs.

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5 Resumé

Tato práce se zabývala společenskou situací 60. let 20. století v Británii, postavením dělnické třídy, především mladistvých a jejich odrazem v umělecké tvorbě skupiny Beatles. Cílem bylo kulturně-historicky analyzovat tvorbu písňových textů Beatles a dalších rockových skupin jako byly Rolling Stones a Who. Aby byl dokázán vliv společenských změn z 60. let v písňových textech, bylo nezbytné nastínit kulturní a historické pozadí doby. Toto období bylo blíže vysvětleno v první kapitole teoretické části. Druhá kapitola se zabývala životem každého člena skupiny Beatles od útlého dětství až po dospělost a zároveň historií vzniku této skupiny, ale také byl zmíněn hudební styl zvaný skiffle, který byl inspirací pro tvorbu Beatles. Třetí kapitola byla zaměřena na dělnickou třídu, která tvořila nedílnou součást společnosti 60. let, a navíc samotní členové Beatles byli spojeni s touto sociální třídou, protože z ní vzešli. Poslední kapitola se týkala samotné analýzy písňových textů, z nichž převažovaly především písně skupiny Beatles.

První kapitola se soustředila na historické události 60. let, jak už bylo výše zmíněno. Tato doba se vyznačovala celou řadu společenských změn, které byly podmíněny pokrokem například v oblasti techniky a medicíny. Toto se dotklo především úlohou ženy ve společnosti a rodině. Možnost užívání antikoncepce a legalizace práva na potrat ovlivnilo jejich celospolečenské postavení. Ženy byly vzdělanější, začaly se zapojovat do pracovního procesu a pro některé z nich se práce stala hlavní náplní života, což ovlivnilo i počet narozených dětí, který v 60. letech poklesl. Na druhou stranu počet svateb se zvýšil, ale o to více se lidé také v 60. letech rozváděli. To velmi úzce souviselo s emancipací žen a jejich finanční nezávislostí a možností se o sebe samostatně postarat. Také práva homosexuálů začala být tolerována většinou společnosti, což se v minulosti nebylo obvyklé. Uvolnění společenské atmosféry bylo vyvoláno zlepšením pracovních podmínek. Týdenní pracovní doba se zkrátila na 40 hodin a zároveň došlo k růstu mezd, tudíž lidé měli dostatek času a peněz ke koupi nejnovějších technických vymožeností jako byly například televize, pračky, myčky na nádobí a další. Pod vlivem těchto tendencí se společnost začala měnit v materialistickou a konzumní. I když se životní úroveň zvýšila, konzumerismus také přinesl negativní jevy. Například se rozmohlo užívání drog jako LSD nebo marihuana nejenom mezi mladými lidmi, ale také střední generace sympatizovala s jejich užíváním. Přiklonění k materialistické stránce života mělo za další následek odklon od duchovních hodnot, tudíž se snížil počet věřících.

Druhá kapitola se zaměřila na samotné Beatles, protože se stali nejenom fenoménem 60. let, ale zároveň tato skupina byla oblíbená v dalších generacích minimálně příštích padesát let, 42 přestože svoji činnost ukončili v roce 1970. Stručný vývoj a vznik skupiny Beatles je popsán v této kapitole společně s jejich životními strastmi, kterými si musel každý z nich projít sám. I přesto, že pocházeli z chudých poměrů dělnické třídy, dokázali dobýt svět. Těmi, kdo přivedl Beatles na vrchol slávy jsou Brian Epstein – manažer Beatles společně s producentem Georgem Martinem. Popularita skupiny Beatles v Anglii dovedla k úspěchu v zahraničí ale i v Americe, což vyústilo v celosvětovou „Beatlemánii“, kterou by se dalo označit jako vášnivé šílenství jejich fanoušků. Beatles měli také své období rebelií, kdy se zhlédli v hinduismu a indickém duchovním stylu. Zmíněn je také výrok Johna Lennona, že Beatles jsou populárnější než Ježíš, což vyvolalo různé znepokojivé reakce především v Americe, kde na rozdíl od Británie mnoho lidí uznávalo tradici křesťanství.

Třetí kapitola teoretické části se věnuje postavení dělnické třídy ve společnosti, kterého se týkaly změny 60. let, ale stejně tak i lidí pocházejících z vyšších vrstev. Avšak pozice lidí z dělnické třídy se změnila k lepšímu. Společnost se zdánlivě jevila jako beztřídní, ale to se časem ukázalo jako přehnaný výraz a naivní myšlenka, protože pouze některé faktory byly rovnocenné pro jedince všech společenských tříd. Díky zvyšování životní úrovně obyvatel Británie se mohly rozvíjet volnočasové aktivity, které se staly dostupné pro většinu lidí. Rovněž cestování získalo velkou popularitu a stalo se běžnou součástí života. Módní styl oblékání, který byl typický pro tuto generaci, nejvíce setřel rozdíly ve společenském postavení lidí. Také jazyk vysílání v médiích (rádiu a televizi) byl uzpůsoben tomu, aby každý mohl porozumět sdělovaným informacím, protože dříve se vysílalo v oficiálním jazyce (Received Pronunciation), který nebyl srozumitelný a snadno pochopitelný pro všechny sociální třídy. Společnost se snažila setřít sociální rozdíly mezi lidmi. Jednou z výjimek byli imigranti, kteří nebyli přijati většinovou společností. Hlavním důvodem nepřijetí byly společenské a náboženské rozdíly a odlišný životní styl života.

Poslední kapitola se zabývala analýzou písňových textů uvedených skupin. Zejména Beatles, ale také Rolling Stones a Who se řadily mezi významné hudební skupiny 60. let. Na základě historického kontextu, který byl detailně zobrazen v první kapitole, a rozboru textů písní v analytické části bylo prokázáno, že některé texty a význam písní byly inspirovány událostmi 60. let. Týkalo se to zejména tvorby, jež odrážela nespokojenost společnosti s politickými poměry. Další inspirací písni byly milostné vztahy a problémy spojené s láskou. Do jejich tvorby se často promítaly osobní zkušenosti jednotlivých členů skupin. Týkalo se to zejména Beatles, například interpret Paul McCartney napsal dvě písně, v nichž vzpomíná na svou matku, která zemřela, když byl Paul ještě dítě. Jednalo se o písně „Yesterday“ a „Let It

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Be“. Další píseň věnovaná synovi Johna Lennona byla pojmenovaná „Hey Jude“, ta odkazuje na těžké časy syna Juliana, kterého se silně dotknul rozvod jeho rodičů (Johna a Cynthie).

Písně všech tří skupin byly vzájemně porovnávány, a to jak z hlediska melodie, tak i obsahu. Tvorba Beatles byla v porovnání s ostatními dvěma skupinami více líbivější, protože používali pozitivní texty a melodii, na rozdíl od zbývajících dvou skupin, které preferovaly rockovější charakter písní. Kromě uhlazeného stylu tvorby Beatles se objevovaly i písně, které odrážely rebelský postoj k životu. Texty písní Rolling Stones byly častěji depresivního obsahu, například v písni „Gimmer Shelter” popisovali krutost války. Styl písní skupiny Who se podobal více Rolling Stones než Beatles a na základě vybraných písní je zřejmé, že milostné písně nebyly tak romantické jako u Beatles. I přes všechny rozdíly v tvorbě se tyto skupiny shodly v některých názorech, především vyjadřovaly nesouhlas s válkami a vyzdvihovaly touhu po svobodě.

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6 Bibliography

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BBC News. “The Who's Pete Townshend writes new song for rock opera Tommy.“ Last modified 15 March 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39266263. Cohen, Rich. Slunce, Měsíc & Rolling Stones, trans. Jan Kozák. JOTA, s.r.o., 2016. https://www.bookport.cz/e-kniha/slunce-mesic-a-rolling-stones-100205/#.

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Lindaur Vojtěch, “Pohádka s nešťastným koncem o dlouhém Honzovi”, Reflex, 2010.

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Pach, Chester. ""Rock 'n' Roll Is Here to Stay": Using Popular Music to Teach about Dating and Youth Culture from Elvis to the Beatles." OAH Magazine of History 18, no. 4 (2004): 47. Accessed February 18, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25163702.

Reck, David R. "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition." Asian Music 16, no. 1 (1985): 98. Accessed February 14, 2020. doi:10.2307/834014.

Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy. Victoria, Penguin Books Pty Ltd, 1958. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463228/page/n19/mode/2up.

Schmiedel, Gottfried. The Beatles trans. Igor Šingliar. Bratislava: OPUS, 1988.

Sullivan, Gerard, "Discrimination and Self-concept of Homosexuals Before the Gay Liberation Movement: A Biographical Analysis Examining Social Context and Identity." Biography 13, no. 3 (1990): 203-21. www.jstor.org/stable/23539517.

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7 Appendices

1) Barry Miles, Beatles Jejich vlastními slovy, trans. Libor Stejskal (Bratislava: CHAMPAGNE AVANTGARDE, 1993), 79, my own translation. Original text: “Dostanete se do určtitého stadia, kdy si říkáte, že nemá cenu dělat velkou filozofii. Protože, aby to bylo jednoduché a pravdivé, musí to být především šíleně jednoduché.” My own translation: “You got to the certain state, when you say to yourself that there is no point in making such a big philosophy. If you want to make it simple and truthful, it must be above all deliriously simple.” 2) Antonín Matzner, Beatles Výpověď o jedné generaci trans. Miloš Skalka (Praha: Mladá Fronta, 1987), 20, my own translaton. Original text: “Bylo to, jako kdyby byl mrtvý.” My own translation: “It was like he was dead.

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